June 10, 2004

Good News, Bad News

It was another long day at the hospital and I spent what time I did have on a vintage Gleeman-length article that is up right now at The Hardball Times, so today's blog entry is going to be a short one. Some good news/bad news thoughts on last night's Twins game ...

Good news ... My family "released" me from the hospital with orders to watch the Twins game.

Bad news ... The game went 15 innings and it kept me up late, so I'll be dead tired while spending another day at the hospital today.

Bad news ... Luis Rivas started his third straight game at second base and Michael Cuddyer was the only Minnesota position player who didn't play in the game.

Good news ... Rivas went 2-for-6 with two singles and scored a run.

Bad news ... That brought his season totals up to .236/.266/.358.

Good news ... The Twins got their third straight great performance by a starting pitcher (7 IP, 2 ER from Kyle Lohse) and their bullpen combined to pitch eight (yes, eight) scoreless innings.

Bad news ... They still needed 15 innings to scrape together enough runs to win, and against Matt Ginter no less.

Good news ... Jose Offerman came off the bench with a pinch-hit double to tie the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

Bad news ... Offerman, despite hitting .227 on the year and about .050 in the last six weeks, probably just guaranteed himself another 150 at-bats this season.

Good news ... We got to see Matthew LeCroy, the Aaron Gleeman lookalike and incredibly slow human being, score from first base on Offerman's double.

Bad news ... LeCroy will be out for the next three weeks as he tries to recover from his lengthy journey.

Good news ... Twins pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts and walked just five New York hitters.

Bad news ... Twins hitters combined for just three walks.

Good news ... Grant Balfour finally got into a meaningful game and pitched well, earning his first win of the season.

Bad news ... Juan Rincon did not get the win that would have pushed him to 8-3 on the year, which would have almost guaranteed him a (completely undeserved) spot on the AL All-Star team and probably 2-3 ESPN.com articles.

Bad news ... Joe Mauer went 0-for-2 before being lifted for a pinch-runner, dropping his batting average to .261 on the year.

Good news ... Mauer continued to show an incredible amount of plate discipline, walking twice while looking at about 400 pitches.

Good news ...

AL CENTRAL


W L WIN% GB
Minnesota 33 26 .559 --
Chicago 31 25 .554 0.5

New article at The Hardball Times: The Boys of Moneyball, Again

Friday's picks:

Houston (Redding) -110 over Milwaukee (Davis)

Arizona (Sparks) +130 over Toronto (Hentgen)

Cleveland (Sabathia) -120 over Cincinnati (Wilson)

San Francisco (Hermanson) +110 over Baltimore (Bedard)

Montreal (Hernandez) +110 over Seattle (Franklin)

Pittsburgh (Benson) +210 over Oakland (Hudson)

Chicago (Maddux) -105 over Anaheim (Lackey)

Saturday's picks:

San Francisco (Hermanson) +120 over Baltimore (Lopez)

Boston (Wakefield) -145 over Los Angeles (Weaver)

New York (Leiter) -140 over Kansas City (George)

San Diego (Tankersley) +180 over New York (Lieber)

Philadelphia (Millwood) -120 over Minnesota (Silva)

Montreal (Vargas) +165 over Seattle (Moyer)

Sunday's picks:

Arizona (Johnson) -140 over Toronto (Lilly)

San Diego (Wells) +180 over New York (Vazquez)

San Francisco (Williams) +105 over Baltimore (Ponson)

St. Louis (Williams) -110 over Texas (Rickey)

Minnesota (Radke) -140 over Philadelphia (Abbott)

Kansas City (Greinke) +120 over New York (Glavine)

Montreal (Armas) +130 over Seattle (Pineiro)

Pittsburgh (Wells) +210 over Oakland (Mulder)

Chicago (Clement) +125 over Anaheim (Escobar)

Los Angeles (Nomo) +220 over Boston (Martinez)

Total to date: -$1,820

W/L record: 89-117 (3-2 yesterday for +140, with one rainout.)

*****Comments? Questions? Email me!*****

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